"Scientific medicine has taken credit it does not deserve for some advances in health. Most people believe that victory over the infectious diseases of the last century came with the invention of immunizations. In fact, cholera, typhoid, tetanus, diphtheria and whooping cough, etc, were in decline before vaccines became available - the result of better methods of sanitation, sewage disposal, and distribution of food and water."

Vaccines are treated preparations containing bacteria or viruses that are used to artificially induce immunity against a specific disease.A vaccine is designed to mimic the process of naturally occurring infection by artificial means.Theoretically, a vaccine produces in recipients a mild episode of infection, whose side effects, are supposed to be slight and from which infants and children are supposed to recover easily.The agent in the vaccine that stimulates immunity is called the antigen.Bacteria, viruses, pollen, fungi, protozoans, and poisons from insects and snakes are all antigens.When antigens are introduced into the body an antibody is produced.Vaccines are injected into the body going directly into the bloodstream, dumping these toxins straight to our organs.Whereas, the natural way to fight off an illness is to have it enter the immune system through skin and nose where it is properly being combatted before reaching the organs.

The decision to vaccinate a child is often made without considering that we have the power and strength of our own natural immunity to protect us from illness.Since the beginning of time, people have overcome infections and disease. Our parents and grandparents didn’t have nearly as many vaccinations that are being introduced to our children now. Other countries don’t give their children nearly as many shots, especially in infancy, as we do.America, the land of prosperity and the almighty dollar, is cashing in on the medical industry like other industries before it.

The principle behind vaccinations is to prevent disease.The idea is that if a child does not contract measles, or chicken pox, or other contagious diseases, then he or she will have a better chance of living a healthy life.From an anthroposophical perspective, we know that when we permit the child to go through an illness, receiving natural remedies to minimize symptoms, he or she emerges from the illness stronger.I notice after my children have an illness, they somehow undergo a metamorphis.They are brighter, cheerier and renewed on deeper levels.When I am tired, and I choose to rest for a full day (sometimes I have to force myself), I feel so alive and invorgated the following day.I feel like I can take on anything.I’ve allowed myself time to rest before an illness can breakthrough an exhausted mom.

Informed consent, the acknowledgement of human rights of individuals or their guardians to make fully informed, voluntary decisions about whether to undergo a medical procedure that could result in harm or death has been the norm in Western medicine since World War II.Why then has vaccination been exempted from this informed consent and vaccine makers and doctors have been exempted from liability for vaccine injuries and deaths?

Now, as consumers are asking for more information and choices, mechanisms are being set up to restrict those choices.Government-operated electronic vaccine tracking systems are already in place, using health care indentifier numbers to tag and track children without the parents’ informed consent in order to enforce use of all government-recommended vaccines now and in the future.With so many unanswered questions about vaccine safety, but with the knowledge that every vaccine carries a risk and that some individuals will be more vulnerable to vaccine reactions than others, the right to informed consent to vaccination takes on even greater legal and ethical significance.If the government can tag, track down and force individuals against their will to be injected wth biologicals of unknown toxicity today, will there be any limit on what individual freedoms they can take away in the name of the greater good tomorrow?

Many of you might have been “scared” into vaccinating your children.Perhaps you felt powerless, as if you had no other choice.Empower yourself and become educated on both sides of the coin. Understand that medical science is not infallible.Today’s better-educated health care consumer is demanding more information, more choices, and a more eqaul decision-making partnership with doctors.Vaccinations are driven and force-fed to us by the pharmaceutical companies making the big bucks.Doctors also cash in on you lining up at their door to receive these vaccines.These vaccines are rushed out onto the market with not nearly enough testing.Why does a newborn infant have to be injected with a hepatitis B vaccine when they are not a drug user or having sex with multiple partners?Some of these vaccinations just don’t make sense.

There is another controversy over a mercury compound known as thimerosal.Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccines since 1930.It contains nearly 50% ethylmercury.High levels of mercury can cause brain cells to die and lower immune system function.The first signs of mercury poisoning may be an inability to get rid of the flu, bronchitis, a yeast infection or even resulting in cancer.In infants, the blood-brain barrier, a membrane circulating blood and the brain that prevents certain harmful substances from reaching the brain, is not yet able to keep out toxins that can damage the brain.So merucry sent directly into the bloodstream, via an immunization shot, enters the brain and remains there where it does its damage.

Many believe it is thimerosal that is causing autism and a whole slew of current childhood diseases.The FDA has ordered manufacturers to do something about mercury in vaccines, yet it still will not recognize that thimerosal is a health risk. It is estimated that only one to ten percent of adverse reactions to vaccines are reported, yet there are still over a thousand reports per month.DO NOT, regardless of what you are told, give your child vaccinations while they are sick.Reconsider vaccination if your child has known allergies, seizures, immunity or brain problems.

Other added ingredients in vaccines are as follows:

·Aluminum, known to cause seizures, Alzheimer’s disease and brain damage used in DtaP and Hepatitis B vaccines.

·Benzethonium chloride, this is in the anthrax vaccine and has not been evaluated for human consumption

·Ethylene glycol, the main ingredient in antifreeze used in DtaP, polio, Hib and Hepatitis B vaccines as a preservative

·Formaldehyde, a known carcinogenic, best used in embalming and fungicides

·Gelatin, a known allergen found in varicella and MMR vaccines

·Glutamate, known to cause adverse reactions and is found in varicella vaccine

·Neomycin, a known allergen vfoudn in MMR and polio vaccines.

·Phenol, a coal-tar derivative, highly poisonous and harms the immune system used in typhoid and other vaccines.

·Streptomycin, causes allergic reactions in some people and used in typhoid vaccine

Children’s, especially infant’s, immune systems are too immature to be introduced to the majority of vaccines, let alone the chemicals preserving them. We need to build immunity in stages, much like the progression of life.Children accomplish this by successfully overcoming organisms in their outer environment.The best thing we can do for the health of our children is to breastfeed them (the American Academy of Pediatrics now recommends up to 18 months of age), give them healthy nourishing food and make sure they get a consistent supply of love and affection.

It is a common misconception that epidemics are at an all time low since the introduction of vaccinations. The reality is infectious diseases were declining dramatically in Western nations before the introduction of immunizations.This was due to improvements in social hygiene and other modernization factors.Epidemics of infectious diseases are connected to human relations with each other and with the earth, and vaccinations address neither of these relationships.

The creation of public health immunization programs in each state is based on preventing illnesses, some of which are serious illnesses and some of which are acute illnesses common to childhood.The government and the medical community have created a schedule of immunization that allows the greatest possible number of children to be immunized.This public-health thinking is in contrast to optimum care for an individual.Current programs aimed at mass immunization do not distinguish among the differing degrees of risk posed by each disease.Parents are seeking to individualize their children’s care in a way that respects who the child is as an individual.Doctor Stephanie Cave in her book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations lists an accepted vaccination schedule where only one shot is given at a time and the vaccination is not preserved in Thimerosol, a mercury derivative.

Know your rights. Ask for thimerosal-free vaccines.Ask to look at the pamplet of the vaccination so you can read the ingredients in it.Each state has different vaccination requirements and exemptions from them (medical, religious and philosophical).There is a difference between recommendations and laws.Contact your state’s health department to find out what they are. The website of the National Vaccine Information Center has state-by-state information.By submitting a letter in writing, in the preferred legal language, you can exempt your children from immunizations.In most cases, the school will only insist that your child stay home during an epidemic.

If parents intend not to immunize, it is essential that they use homeopathic or other traditional approaches for caring for the child while they are ill so that they are not overwhelmed by the consequences of the illness and they can recognize the symptoms of certain illnesses.The books listed below are a great resource on each vaccination and the specific illness.Ask your homeopath to sign your immunization cards.Most schools will accept this as a valid form of immunization record.

Please sign the petition on this site to keep The Vaccine Safety Datalink files open to independent researchers.By law, everyone should be able to study the vaccine risk data.The government has only allowed the CDC (Center for Disease Control) to have accerss to this data.

Book Recommendations:

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children’s Vaccinations, by Stephanie Cave, M.D., F.A.A.F.P.

The Vaccination Dilemma, by Christine Murphy, Editor of Mothering Magazinewww.mothering.com(A must subscription for any mom.)

What Every Parent Should Know About Childhood Immunization, by Jamie Murphy